Latest Catastrophe Headlines
All the headlines from our Catastrophe Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California and Feds Sign Earthquake Plan
Dec 16 2010 // California and federal emergency responders have signed a plan designed to respond to a disastrous earthquake in Southern California. A similar state-federal pact was developed two years ago for dealing with a quake in...
Swiss Re Secures $106.5 Million Vega Cat Bond for Multiple Perils
Dec 14 2010 // Swiss Re announced that it has obtained $106.5 million in coverage “against North Atlantic hurricane, European windstorm, Californian earthquake, Japanese earthquake and Japanese typhoon through a natural catastrophe...
RMS Conducts Risk Analysis for SCOR’s Atlas VI Cat Bonds
Dec 13 2010 // Risk Management Solutions announced that it has successfully conducted the expert risk analysis for the second issuance of the Atlas VI bond (Series 2010-I Class A Notes) sponsored by French reinsurer SCOR Group. The...
Petersen International Develops Company Protection for Catastrophic Loss
Dec 9 2010 // Petersen International Underwriters has launched a new type of insurance known as Corporate Accumulation Death and Disability Insurance. This insurance protects firms that may have a sizeable accumulation of employees or...
Aon Benfield Cat Report for November Highlights Cold and Floods
Dec 6 2010 // In its latest monthly assessment of the world’s catastrophes for November Aon Benfield highlights the first winter weather event of the season across Europe with “notable affects.” the report, published...
North Carolina Escapes Storms; Will It Escape Florida’s Insurance Woes?
Dec 5 2010 // Earlier in 2010, Colorado State’s Tropical Meteorology Project forecasted eight hurricanes to emerge from 15 named tropical storms in the Atlantic basin. Of those, four were forecasted to become major hurricanes. On...
Talk About the Weather
Dec 5 2010 // Floods, Windstorms, Droughts, Heat Waves and Wildfires There was a time in the not-so-distant past when events such as these would have been considered somewhat unusual in Europe. But these days, extreme weather events are...
Tropical Storm Risk on ‘Remarkable’ 2010 Hurricane, Typhoon Seasons
Dec 3 2010 // To mark the end of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Risk (TSR), which provides resources for predicting and mapping tropical storm activity worldwide and is co-sponsored by Aon Benfield, has issued a...
European Storm Season Starts, But Forecasts are Difficult, Says Lloyd’s
Dec 1 2010 // The world really gets no respite from global weather events. Just as the hurricane season draws to a close, the European windstorm season, which usually lasts around four months, starts up. In its examination of the onset...
Catastrophes Cost World $222 Billion in 2010: Swiss Re
Nov 30 2010 // According to initial estimates from Swiss Re’s sigma research team, worldwide economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters totaled $222 billion in 2010; more than triple the 2009 figure of $63...
Extremely Active Atlantic Hurricane Season was a ‘Gentle Giant’ for U.S.
Nov 29 2010 // The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, which ends tomorrow, was one of the busiest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In contrast, the eastern North Pacific season had the fewest...
Is Gas Drilling Causing West Virginia Earthquakes?
Nov 24 2010 // Officials say there’s no clear explanation for what may have prompted several earthquakes near Frametown earlier this year. Some have speculated that the cluster of small earthquakes was linked to local gas...
Series of Earthquakes Shake Arkansas
Nov 22 2010 // A series of earthquakes, including one with a magnitude of 3.9, has rattled parts of Central Arkansas. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a number of temblors near Guy on Saturday, with magnitudes ranging from 1.7 to...
CCRIF Details Payments to Members for Tropical Cyclone Tomas
Nov 18 2010 // The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) announced that it has completed insurance payments to the Governments of Barbados, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent & the Grenadines following the passage of...
Reinsurance Broker UIB Asia to Use AIR Catastrophe Models
Nov 17 2010 // Boston-based AIR Worldwide announced that UIB Asia Reinsurance Brokers Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of UIB International/UIB Holdings UK Ltd, has licensed AIR’s catastrophe risk management systems. “UIB is an...
Aon Benfield Warns on Perils of European ‘Uncommon’ Storm Tracks
Nov 17 2010 // Aon Benfield has issued a briefing on uncommon European winter storm tracks in conjunction with the University of Cologne. The research points to a lower total number of events in the future, but “indicates intense...
North Carolina Escapes Storms; Will It Escape Florida’s Insurance Woes?
Nov 16 2010 // Earlier in 2010, Colorado State’s Tropical Meteorology Project forecasted eight hurricanes to emerge from 15 named tropical storms in the Atlantic basin. Of those, four were forecasted to become major hurricanes. On...
Death Toll from Indonesian Volcano Eruption Passes 240
Nov 15 2010 // Mount Merapi, Indonesia’s most volatile volcano, unleashed another cloud of searing gas as rescuers pulled more bodies from a village smothered a week ago by eruptions. The death toll from a series of blasts passed...
Aon Warns Re/insurers of Heightened Rating Agency Scrutiny in Asia
Nov 11 2010 // Aon Benfield announced that it is “advising re/insurers that rating agencies are likely to increase their scrutiny of catastrophe risk in Asia and that many companies will have to make substantial investments to...
Minnesota Leads on Tornado Touchdowns
Nov 8 2010 // Minnesota can claim this touchdown record. It leads all others in the number of tornadoes that have swept through the state this year. The National Weather Service says 104 tornadoes touched down in Minnesota in 2010,...
